Nuclear warning detectors set off at Chicago train station

A straight out of a Sci-Fi movie experience for passengers of a commuter train in Chicago as Federal Agents swarm the station looking for the source of a nuclear warning that was triggered.

Agents from the VIPR team (Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response) were alerted by sensors that a detectable level of radiation had passed into the station. They went car to car with hand held radiation detectors searching for the source. Finally the agents hit on a bag that was located in the storage rack of one particular train car.

They began questioning a gentleman about why they were getting an isotope reading from his bag, when Jerry Jones realized that he was the cause of alert. That morning Mr. Jones had a nuclear stress test, and that was setting off the detection system. CBS Chicago reported the search was indeed conducted by agents of the elite TSA VIPR team. VIPR teams were created after the 2004 bombing of a train in Madrid, Spain, to protect U.S. transportation.

Jones was quoted as saying “I had no idea I was the center of the activity.”

It is comforting that they are insuring our safety, but on the other had quite scary that we are always being watched.